Continue to read and study but it's a lot of information!!

And yes, the income from renting is still taxable, but ideally you are offsetting a chunk of that with depreciation which is a non-cash expense.You should read Amanda Han and Matt MacFarland's books as well which are available in the BP Bookstore. https://store.biggerpockets.com/products/tax-strategies-book...

Quote from @Sabian Ripplinger: i want to possibly use hard money this year to grow quicker   and can you use them for new builds  who should i use and  any tips?   

I suggest reading it over and weighing the pros and cons.

A lot of it is the standard Buildium application, most of the extras I put in there after reading Landlording on Autopilot by Mike Butler.Application fee needs to cover all your screening costs. 

I always am amazed when someone selling a $600,000 house brings me a listing agreement where they agreed to pay a stranger $30,000 to list their house for sale and they didn't even read the agreement much less spend the $250 to have a lawyer tell them that yes, if they sell it to their cousin during the listing period they still have to pay the $30k.

I laughed when I read that you added value through "Pain", which I assume you meant, Paint ;-)This shows that you are going to hold this investment.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my post! 

Thanks for reading! 

I had read that you should look for a neighborhood where there have been at least 5% of the total homes in that given area sold in the past year.